COVID-19 has confirmed for Graecia Pacheco—a sophomore microbiology major—that her career goal is to help people protect themselves from harmful diseases. She envisions the possibilities of discovering beneficial bacteria and screening for diseases as an epidemiologist. As a first-generation immigrant from the Philippines, Pacheco grew up knowing it will take hard work to achieve these dreams. She intends to give back by advocating for improved health care access and providing health care in underserved communities.
Pacheco was accepted into the CALS Life Science Leadership Program because she is pursuing a life sciences career and wants to advance diversity in the field. This summer program gives students opportunities to conduct independent research with College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty, and to receive one-on-one mentoring. They receive summer research funding, attend workshops on leadership and interact with a group of like-minded students.
Program participants are expected to develop research proposals with the support of a faculty mentor. Pacheco decided to study antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the identification of alternatives to antibiotic use in dairy cattle with Animal and Veterinary Sciences Associate Professor John Barlow. AMR from antibiotic overuse has become a global threat to human and animal health. Specifically, her goal was to “discover bacteria from cows’ teat skin that are natural inhibitors of Staphylococcus aureus, a major mastitis pathogen of dairy cattle.â€
Pacheco’s project is part of a larger field study by Barlow of mastitis prevalence in ten Vermont organic dairy farms. The team is seeking to identify mastitis-inhibiting bacteria from healthy cows and cows with mastitis. For her project, Pacheco tested teat and milk samples for evidence of S. aureus inhibiting bacteria, and then identified and categorized these beneficial bacteria using biochemical and genetic tests.
After completion of the leadership program, Pacheco will present her research findings during the 2022 ¶¶Òõ̽̽ Student Research Conference. In the future she plans to enter ¶¶Òõ̽̽’s Accelerated Entry in Master’s Degree Program in Public Health, and her love for cold weather might just keep her here in Vermont for medical school as well.